The Importance of Cultivating Emotional Intelligence
Everyone has some level of emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence refers to the ability to notice and to positively manage your own emotions while communicating and empathizing with others. It’s required to maintain healthy relationships, and friendships, and especially to enjoy a meaningful and successful career.
The greater your emotional intelligence, the easier it will be for you to understand and use your own emotions for lifting other up versus tearing them down or creating a wall of defense for yourself. You’re also likely to understand others more clearly, which can greatly improve your communication efforts — an important trait in working through emotions that other bring to our lives!
So, why is it so important to cultivate emotional intelligence? More importantly, how can you do it?
Why Emotional Intelligence Matters
Having a lot of emotional intelligence doesn’t necessarily guarantee success in life. But, it can certainly help.
Research has shown that people with greater emotional intelligence tend to get hired more frequently, get promoted, and earn higher salaries. Beyond that, high emotional intelligence can assist you in team-building, conflict management, and developing strong work/family relationships that will make it easier to climb the ladder to the top.
In your personal life, emotional intelligence can help you communicate your needs to your friends, family members, and spouse more effectively. You’ll also be able to meet those people’s needs and work through any issues faster and more efficiently.
Clearly, cultivating emotional intelligence matters. Whether you’re trying to move ahead in your career or strengthen your relationships, gathering more emotional intelligence can make a difference.
But, how can you do that?
Improving Emotional Intelligence
Thankfully, it’s easier to cultivate emotional intelligence than you might think. As long as you’re willing to put in the work and dedicate your time, you can adopt (and grow) the skills necessary to boost this type of intelligence in your everyday life.
One of the best ways to make that improvement is to be more self-aware. It’s one of the key components of emotional intelligence. Think about the people you work with who are considered leaders. Chances are, they’re well aware of their own emotions and the emotions of people around them. That can improve communication efforts and help them keep their cool.
The next time you’re feeling a strong emotion, whether it’s positive or negative, pause and take note of it. Consider writing it down. When you begin to recognize your own emotions, you’ll have greater control over them.
Be an Active Listener
There’s a difference between hearing someone and actively listening to what they have to say. Active listening involves asking questions, repeating back information, and using both verbal and nonverbal communication to let that person know you’re paying attention and recognize that what they’re saying is valid.
Active listening goes a long way in earning respect, and people are likely to give it to you in return.
Work On Your Communication Skills
Active listening is an important part of communication. But, obviously, being able to speak confidently is the other necessary factor. Not everyone is born with strong communication skills. Thankfully, they can be learned. Little tips to improve your communication skills include understanding your audience, making eye contact, keeping your words short and sweet, and learning to read non-verbal cues.
Keep a Positive Perspective
You’re never going to “get ahead” as much as you want to if you maintain a negative attitude. This is why the Bible teaches us in 2 Corinthians 10:5 to capture our thoughts. While looking on the sunny side isn’t always going to fix everything, it will make it easier to keep moving forward, especially when problems arise. Write down the negative thoughts and ask yourself what positive could occur as a a result of your struggle?
Staying positive will not only help you stay more motivated, but other will see your attitude and start to look more like a natural-born leader to those around you. People enjoy other who speak life giving words and want to be around them.
It’s never too late to cultivate emotional intelligence, no matter your goals. Keep these tips in mind to continue your growth, and you’re likely to see greater success in your career and relationships. If you need some help processing emotions or training your mind to choose the positive go to the contact page and send me a message. Therapy can help you retrain yourself to tolerate and process emotions and thoughts well.